Students and teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia, where a teenager opened fire on Wednesday, are being praised for the bravery they showed in the face of unimaginable odds.
Meanwhile, more information is emerging about the 14-year-old shooter who allegedly put them in this situation.
The attack at Winder High School in the Atlanta suburbs of Georgia, in which the gunman used an AR-15 rifle, left four people dead and nine injured.
Throughout the shooting, Apalachee students repeatedly tried to stop the attackers and were among the first to render aid to the wounded, according to CNN.
According to CNN, a 14-year-old student noticed the gunman’s gun and tried to stop him from entering a classroom.
Student Layella Sayalath told CNN that the shooter tried to enter a first-grade algebra classroom but was blocked, then went to a classroom next door and opened fire.
Another student managed to close the classroom door to stop the gunman from entering, but was shot in the process.
In a Facebook post reported by National Public Radio, teacher Jennifer Carter said she had encouraged her students to hide behind couches in the classroom and stay quiet, as they had been trained to do in the event of an active shooter. Carter said she decided to tell her students it was a drill in order to keep them as calm as possible.
“I told my kids the quieter they were the quicker the drill would be over,” Carter said, “and I knew that was a lie. … (But) my kids were able to hide for 10 minutes without panicking.”
She praised the “kids” for being “so brave.”
“They still trusted me and did what I asked them to do…. I had no idea what was going on. There was still screaming and banging on the door. Finally the door opened and we took refuge on the football field. There were police everywhere. They had guns pointed at us as we were leaving. But they still did what I asked them to do.”
Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math teacher, one of four people killed in Wednesday’s shooting, reportedly died while trying to protect his students during the riots.
Aspinwall reportedly heard banging on lockers near his classroom, and students told ABC News he left the classroom to try to protect them.
“My teacher, Coach Aspinwall, opened the door and I ran outside to see what was going on,” Stephanie Reyna, 17, told ABC News.
Students said they heard gunshots and then saw Aspinwall lying in the classroom. “He was just laying there at the door, trying to crawl back to us.”
“I think he was just trying to get to us,” the student told ABC.
Kaylee Abner, a second-grader who was in geometry class at the time of the shooting, told The Associated Press that teachers helped her barricade her classroom as gunfire rang out inside the building. Later, as students ran into the school’s football stadium, Abner said she noticed several teachers removing their shirts to try to staunch their bloody gunshot wounds.
Police officers stationed at the school eventually confronted the shooter, Colt Gray, at which point he surrendered and was jailed on four counts of murder.
The shooter, who will be tried as an adult, also faces additional charges in connection with the injuries.
The suspect’s father, 54-year-old Collin Gray, has also been charged in connection to the shooting, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
Collin Gray is facing multiple charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse, after he allegedly provided his son with multiple guns used in the mass shooting, knowing that his child was a “threat to himself or others.”
“His charges are directly related to his son’s actions and allowing his son to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey told reporters during a news conference Thursday.
At the same time, the suspect’s home life has also come under scrutiny: The Associated Press reports that the teen lived with his father and frequently shot guns and hunted animals.
The boy and his father had been living together following an eviction the previous year that had led to the boy’s parents separating.
The suspect’s aunt told The Washington Post that he had been struggling with his mental health and had been “seeking help for months” before carrying out Wednesday’s attack.
“He was asking for help from everyone around him,” the boy’s aunt, Annie Brown, told The Post. “The adults around him had abandoned him.”
Brown had texted relatives about the boy’s mental health issues and obtaining firearms, according to the Post.
The boy’s family has reportedly been meeting with a school counselor for therapy.
Wednesday’s school shooting has reignited a national debate about safe gun storage laws and prompted parents to grapple with talking to their children about the trauma and disproportionate rates of school shootings in the United States.